Dr Megan Randall gained her doctorate in 2017.

PhD thesis: Installation: An investigation into ceramics and site specifity.

Megan’s practice based research examines reactions between site sensitive installations and the boundaries between fine art and craft objects using clay and ceramic as a pivitotal material. Her investigation also extends to the use of other materials and the juxtaposition in which they are displayed.

The use of abandoned buildings, derelict and decaying, as a setting for Megan’s previous personal work enforced the interplay between the value of material and value of site. A crucial element in this observation is the interaction between the historical relevance of material and the historical nature of site. Interactions and activations (Bishop, 2005) which take place between the place of installation and people are an important starting point for this research. The emerging practice within contemporary ceramics, Cummings Between, Twomey, Gibside piece/ Lost Rituals both question the misuse of materials, the interplay between the history of a place and the use of pre-existing mass produced found objects or ready-mades. In determining this exploration it is not necessarily inventing the new but considering the old.

Impermeance, ephemerality, unrepeatability, the differences between site specific and sensitive are integral to this research and are prevalent within current art practices. Historical context combined with cultural relevance and the demography of the inhabitants of a site can effect the material ceramics, which already comes with its own cultural and historical identity. Within Megan’s research, residencies will allow for an indepth case study and analysis of work directly related to culture, people and site. To date Megan has undertaken practical research in India and Peru.

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